Musk v Altman: Much ado about nothing

Musk v Altman: Much ado about nothing

From Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge

May 21, 2026 · 34 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the lawsuit between Elon Musk and Sam Altman regarding OpenAI's transition to a for-profit entity.

Musk v Altman was nominally about OpenAI's conversion to a for-profit entity, and how it went about that change. But really, the suit seems mostly to have been about Elon Musk being mad at Sam Altman — or at OpenAI, for being successful without him — and wanting him punished in some way. Verge reporter Liz Lopatto spent the last month covering the trial, in all its chaos, and joins Decoder to ask: In a courtroom full of untrustworthy, unreliable people all fighting with each other, did anyone even have a reputation left to lose? Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links: Elon Musk loses his case against Sam Altman | The Verge Musk v. Altman proved AI is led by the wrong people | The Verge Musk v. Altman accomplished nothing but airing dirty laundry | The Verge Elon Musk’s worst enemy in court is Elon Musk | The Verge Behold, the Elon Musk jackass trophy | The Verge Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster…

People in this episode

Hosts: Kate Cox, Nick Statt

Guest: Liz Lopatto

Topics covered

  • OpenAI
  • Elon Musk
  • Sam Altman
  • lawsuit
  • AI leadership
  • courtroom drama

Keywords

  • Elon Musk
  • Sam Altman
  • OpenAI
  • lawsuit
  • AI
  • court
  • reputation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenAI, The Verge, Vox Media Podcast Network

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